Packers Roll Past Jackets

Smithfield Stops Northampton

SMITHFIELD — With its offense in high gear Friday night, Smithfield rolled past Northampton 39-0 in a Bay Rivers District game.

The Packers (4-2 overall, 3-2 in the district) piled up 420 yards of total offense, 271 on the ground. Josh Ross rushed for 73 yards and sophomore Ronald Mavins added 69. Both backs scored twice.

The Yellow Jackets (0-6,0-5),meanwhile, never got their offense started. Northampton rushed for 31 yards in as many attempts and didn't complete its first pass until 7:36 remained in the game. The Jackets finished with 68 total yards.

"They have a good defense," Northampton coach Jim Conrow said. "But with our offensive line, the little sisters of the poor would have been a good defense against us."

In the first half, the Packers held possession for more than 14 minutes. Northampton ran only 17 plays, gained one first down and had 19 total yards.

After a touchdown was called back because of a holding penalty, Mavins put Smithfield on the board with a 44-yard scoring run on a third-and-19 call. Shawn Fisher scored on a 1-yard run and Mavins added another TD to give the Packers a 20-0 halftime lead.

Ross scored on a 38-yard pass from Brad Parker, then ran 7 yards for a touchdown. Reserve Glouston Wooten's 26-yard TD with 2:42 remaining in the game concluded the scoring.

Smithfield, a strong passing team last season, averaged 6.6 yards a rushing play. Parker, the district's leading passer, finished 6-of-13 for 149 yards.

"We picked up a number of yards on the ground," Smithfield coach Miles Blount said. "Contrary to popular opinion, we do like to run the ball. And on some nights, we do pretty well, like tonight.

"We have several people who can score for us. That's the way it's been all season. And this is our second shutout, and our defense is getting stronger."

Northampton had neither the size nor the talent to compete with Smithfield. The Yellow Jackets have only six players back from last year's team. Four of their five starting offensive linemen are sophomores; the other is a junior in his first year of football.

"I've been here six years and this is a low point of talent," Conrow said. "We're not a good offensive team. We just don't have the tools to be a good football team. We have the ingredients; we just have to put them together.

"None of our kids have been in the weight room, and that shows. We have no business being in this league. ... We just don't have a good football team."